Improving chemotherapy data

Pesheya Doubleday - Senior manager SACT Dataset

“As head of data projects at NDRS, I look after the Systemic Anti-Cancer Treatment dataset. It’s a relatively new source of data, but provides us with a wealth of real-world information on patients who are undergoing chemotherapy in England. This enables doctors see how other patients who are receiving chemotherapy are doing and compare treatments with those they are prescribing to their own patients. It’s also used to evaluate the effectiveness of some of the new therapies that are being made available under the Cancer Drugs Fund. So it’s valuable from a commissioning perspective too.

It’s hugely satisfying working here because every day you get a sense that you are really are on the brink of something big when it comes to tackling cancer. The fact that we are the first country in the world to collect data on this scale and coverage is testament to our commitment to achieving data driven healthcare.”